Gold's Gym Apologizes After Being Called Out For Body Shaming Ad

A friendly reminder that fitness comes in all sizes.

People's bodies come in all sizes but apparently no one told that to whomever is responsible for one Gold's Gym location's latest ad, which shows an image of a pear with the caption "this is no shape for a girl." The ad was posted to Facebook by the Dreamland location in Giza, Egypt — and, not surprisingly, it didn't take long for the body shaming ad to circulate with users calling out the franchise.

“Marketing your business and profiting based on people’s fear of prejudice is ugly,” wrote one Facebook commentator before the gym deleted their post, as The Huffington Post reports.

Those familiar with the historical rhetoric of sexist body shaming advertising might notice that, aside from being deeply offensive, the ad was also unoriginal. Back in 1967, a bra company put forth a similar problematic campaign.

Shortly after outrage ensued, the Egypt franchise and Gold's Gym HQ went on damage control, issuing statements on their social media accounts. "We assure you that this post does not reflect the views of Gold's Gym as a brand and find the post just as offensive," wrote Gold's Gym's Twitter account.

Meanwhile, Gold's Gym Egypt said: "Gold's Gym Egypt was built on values that would only encourage men, women and children alike to love themselves proudly, regardless of their weight or physical appearance!," the statement reads. "We are proud of ALL of our members regardless of of age, gender, or fitness level!"

Everyone's body is unique, and the shape of their body has nothing to do with what they are and are not capable of, nor should anyone ever tell a person their body shape is "right" or "wrong." Wouldn't it be nice if we could live in a world where we didn't have body shaming ads and where we didn't body shame gym-goers?